The Victorian branch of the CFMEU has been placed into administration, with Jacinta Allan seeking the suspension of the union’s construction division from the state Labor party over allegations of criminal links.
The Victorian premier on Monday said she has also written to police and the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission to investigate allegations of criminal links within the union, reported by Nine newspapers at the weekend.
“What we have seen here in recent days isn’t unionism,” Allan told reporters.
“It’s … unacceptable behaviour at its worst that I have zero tolerance for and has absolutely no place on any Victorian worksite.”
Allan said she had asked Labor’s national executive to immediately suspend the CFMEU’s construction division from the Victorian Labor party, and asked the state branch to bar all political donations from the union during this period.
“The union itself has acknowledged that it needs to fix its conduct and it shouldn’t have anything to do with the Victorian branch of the Labor party until it does,” Allan said.
Guardian Australia understands a decision on the suspension from the party’s Victorian branch could occur as early as Wednesday, when both Labor’s national executive and the Australian Council of Trade Unions are due to hold separate meetings.
It comes after the CFMEU’s national executive announced it would assume all senior executive powers of its Victorian branch, which has been placed into administration.
The CFMEU national security, Zach Smith said an independent process, to be overseen by a “leading legal figure”, would investigate “credible allegations of wrongdoing”.
“The CFMEU has zero tolerance for criminality and anyone found to have engaged in criminal conduct while representing the CFMEU will be identified and removed,” Smith said in a statement.
“The CFMEU has one purpose and one purpose only and that is to defend and advance the safety and conditions of workers.
“The Victorian Branch has been hugely successful in pursuing this purpose, but the national executive also recognises that a number of recent allegations are serious and demand an unprecedented response.”
However, Smith said he would not accept “general smearing of officials and delegates because of their histories or personal relationships”.
He told 3AW Radio the decision to put the Victorian branch into administration was not an admission of criminality.
“I’ve read the allegations, like your listeners have. I watched last night’s [60 Minutes] segment. They are allegations,” Smith said.
“People are entitled to procedural fairness … I can’t, and I won’t, just hang people on mere media speculation alone.”
But the head of the ACTU, Sally McManus, called for anyone in the construction union subject to criminal allegations to be stood down immediately while investigations happen.
“We also call on the CFMEU to take all necessary steps to rid the union of any and all criminal elements,” McManus said.
Allan said she shared McManus’s view.
“Anyone who has any association with any criminal behaviour, they shouldn’t be there in the first place,” she said.
The Victorian government has also committed to toughen anti-bikie laws to “prevent certain individuals from associating with each other”, and to conduct an independent review to “strengthen the power of Victorian government agencies who are engaged with construction companies and construction unions”.
Allan also urged the federal government “to review – and if necessary, terminate” – CFMEU enterprise bargaining agreements on Victorian construction sites to prevent criminal activity.
The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, said there was “no room for criminality in the construction sector” and vowed to take action against anyone misbehaving in the CFMEU.
He also said the NSW Labor party was not taking donations from the union other than affiliation fees.
The workplace relations minister, Tony Burke, welcomed the national union’s decision, describing it as “a start, but only a start”.
He reiterated comments he made on Sunday, when he said he had asked his department to advise him on ministerial powers to respond to the reports, including deregistering it.
“As I said yesterday, I will be weighing up the department’s advice, the evidence that’s emerging and the response of the union,” Burke said.
“The response so far is progress, but falls short.”
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, welcomed the national union’s decision, describing it as a “good next step”.
The CFMEU Victorian branch secretary, John Setka, resigned on Friday before Nine published the reports, claiming he had been the target of “ongoing false allegations” which had led to “malicious attacks” on the organisation.
Setka had quit the Labor party in 2019 after a long-running dispute with Albanese, who had sought to expel the union official from the party over alleged remarks about domestic violence campaigner Rosie Batty – claims the secretary denied.
